Meanwhile, within the Library, Iraliel had stumbled upon a quietly reading Silren, surprised to see that there was another who resided this seemingly endless Library. Silren hadn’t noticed Iraliel, too focused on her book, only looking up when the angel’s soft voice greeted her ears. Upon looking up her eyes greeted the divine form of the angel, her body and wings surrounded by a faint light, golden hair which cascaded from her brow, and glowing white eyes which possessed no pupils.

“Your eyes, your wings... what are you?” Silren asked in wonder.

Iraliel blinked and smiled softly, “I am an angel, little one.”

“An angel?” Silren furrowed her eyebrows, “I don’t know what you are.”

Suddenly, she turned and asked a nearby golem, “Are there any books on angels?”

The golem nods and she says, “Bring them to me.”

The golem went to obey, disappearing through a gate and reappearing moments later with a singular book, much to Silren’s disappointment.

“This is it?”

The golem nods and she sighs, taking it and dismissing the golem. The golem bowed and left, leaving Silren to read this new book about the angels which was rather thin, much to her disappointment. Curious, the angel made her way over, reading over Silren’s shoulder, seeing that it was mostly basic information, nothing of much importance. But when Silren turned to the last few pages of the book, Iraliel was stunned to see her name, an image of her as well as her strengths, weaknesses, what equipment she had wielded during the Purge and what powers she possessed.

Suddenly, a voice said, “You shouldn’t read books that aren’t finished Silren.”

Silren looked up apologetically, “Sorry uncle, I was just curious, I couldn’t help myself.”

The Librarian admonished, “To want to learn is admirable but you must control it, should you become too hasty a myriad of unfortunate events can occur, things I fear you are not yet able to handle.”

Silren asked, “What do you mean?”

The Librarian said, “One such unfortunate event happened a thousand years ago, during the Great Calamity when your mother nearly destroyed this world. I was too hasty in wanting to learn all that I could learn instead of consolidating the necessary strength to destroy End. Because of my mistake, I was only able to seal her and partially at that.”

Silren joked, “Oh uncle, if you did kill my mom I wouldn’t be here.”

The Librarian paused for a moment and said, “Indeed, perhaps it is a benevolent side effect. Anyways, I shall take that book now, I promise you can read it once it has been finished.”

Silren dutifully handed over the book and the Librarian took it, the book melting into shadow, presumably reappearing at its place on its shelf. Having done this, the Librarian turned and walked away, commanding Iraliel to follow. As Iraliel followed unwillingly, Silren waved goodbye before returning to her previous book, the Librarian creating a gate and walking through.

Returning the wave to Silren, the angel stepped through the gate as well, not returning to the garden as she had expected but someplace outside. It was on a beach, presumably somewhere on Agleon where the sun was beginning set on the ocean’s horizon.

As she looked around her surroundings, the Librarian spoke, “Angel, what do you think of me?”

The Angel was silent, unsure how to respond and the Librarian spoke, “It is fine, be honest. I need your opinion in order to proceed with further action.”

Iraliel still proved to be hesitant, although she decided that it was best to speak her mind before she made the Librarian angry.

“Well, I am afraid of you, I am afraid because I do not understand you. How do you know the things you know? I am also wary, uncomfortable around you, I feel that you do not look at me as a fellow living thing but as something to be studied.”

The Librarian stared out to the horizon, saying, “So do you regard me something which bears you ill will?”

Once more Iraliel was forced to think before replying, “No, I do not think that you bear me ill will, I think you don’t care at all about me, whether I was to live or die.”

The Librarian then asked, “Do you bear me any ill will?”

This time Iraliel spoke with surety, “No, I do not, you are simply too powerful.”

He asked for the final time, “Do you think the gods can defeat me?”

On this Iraliel deliberated long and hard, finally saying, “No, I do not think they can... not without great losses.”

The Librarian was silent for a few moments, the nervous angel resisting the urge to fly away, knowing that if she was to do so she would most likely die on the spot. Finally, the Librarian turned towards her.

“I have decided to let you return to Heaven. However,” he looked at her, “I shall come along as well.”

Stunned, the angel asked, “Why? Why do you wish to enter Heaven?”

The Librarian nodded, “I am not foolish enough to believe that Heaven will leave me alone, I know that sooner or later they shall come, whether to make peace or war. I would rather take the initiative and offer peace.”

The angel didn’t attempt to dissuade him, she felt that once the Librarian had decided on a course of action, it would not divert itself from its chosen path.

She just nodded and prepared her wings for flight, saying, “I will guide you.”

She spread her white wings and flapped them experimentally, taking off into the air moments later, enjoying the exhilarating sensation of flight for a few moments. As she flew, she chanted words in the Heavenly Tongue, something the Librarian took careful note of, the Gates of Heaven appearing before her. She waited for the Librarian to catch up before flying through, the Librarian taking a few moments to analyze this door fully before stepping through himself.

—HEAVEN—

In the midst of a fierce dispute of the Grand Council of the Gods, one god ceased arguing and turned to face the direction of Agleon, sensing a presence he thought he would never feel again.

“Daughter?”

He stood and exited the Council chamber, much to the confusion of the others who also grew silent.

One asked, “Where do you go Areus?”

Areus paid the god no heed and took off, heading towards where he had sensed Iraliel’s presence. He soon reached her, Iraliel surprised to behold her father before her.

She immediately went down on one knee, saying, “Father, I apol-”

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Areus interrupted her with a hug, surprising Iraliel who—after a few moments of confusion—hesitantly returned the hug.

“My daughter, you have returned, I thought I had lost you.”

Iraliel asked, “Father, I-”

She wasn’t sure what else to say so she just fell silent, hugging her father. Unbidden, tears fell from her face and she did not know why, why was she crying? Was it because this was the first time she had experienced affection from her father?

When her father eventually let her go, caressing away the tears on her cheek, she asked, “Why?”

And to that very simple question came a very simple answer, “Because you are my daughter... my last daughter.”

“What?” Iraliel was stunned, she was the last of her father’s children?

“What about Zariel, Asuriel, Telantes... what about-”

Her father shook his head sadly, “They are all dead.”

Only one word could escape her mouth upon hearing this news.

“How?”

Areus answered, “It was in that blasted war with the Premen, they were all slain by Eversor himself.”

He continued, “That... monster was unstoppable, everything we threw at him he slew, eventually I and the other gods took arms against him and even then, he and his Teryo managed to drive us away. I... I must confess that I was one of the few who asked that we leave Agleon alone, we had killed all their women and thus they could not reproduce. We only need wait for their lifespan to come to an end and if we gods are good at anything, it is waiting.”

Iraliel said, “He is that powerful? A mortal could not possess such power.”

“And yet he did, and with it he did his best to protect his people.”

The two fell silent, Iraliel questioning why they even tried to fight the Premen.

Finally, she asked, “Why could we not have peace with the Premen?”

Areus sighed, “Fear child, it was fear. We gods are a unique existence, unchallenged by all and here comes this race, a mortal race that had the potential to surpass our might, a race that could kill us.”

He continued to ramble, seeming to try and justify the choice of killing the Premen rather than to explain, “We gods are afraid of death, and when something comes that is capable of threatening us, we become afraid. It’s funny, that we gods who are undying should fear death. The more you live, the less you want to part with life, you just want to see what else the Universe holds. And yet, sometimes, it just gets so boring that you wish for death. But when it stares you directly in the face, you find that you want to live all the more, even though you had once wished for it.”

Iraliel was silent, unsure as to what to say. She could only be silent she supposed, for it was not her place to speak to a god, even if it was her father. Her father sighed and by chance, his eyes happened to land on the silent figure of the Librarian who had arrived unbeknownst to everyone.

Suspicious, he placed himself between him and his daughter and demanded, “Who are you, how have you come here?”

The Librarian introduced himself, “I am the Librarian and I stepped through the Gate which your daughter opened.”

Areus turned to Iraliel and asked, “Why did you open the gate for him!? You have endangered all of Heaven! You-”

Iraliel interrupted, “He is the one who saved me, I owe him my life.”

Areus turned to the Librarian, slightly embarrassed.

“Ah... my, em... apologies. I thank you for saving my daughter.”

The Librarian shook his head, “I need no gratitude, it would’ve been a great shame to let such a fascinating specimen die. I merely prevented that shame.”

“Pardon?”

The Librarian explained, “By specimen, I mean a subject of study. I have never met an angel before and thus to let her die would potentially mean burning my last chance to study an angel. It was a risk far too great to ignore.”

Areus said, “You... you are a strange being. You aren’t a god, are you?”

The Librarian said, “No, I am not. I am simply the Librarian, he who records all of the knowledge in the Universe.”

“I have never heard of your existence before, forgive me if you find me to be suspicious.”

The Librarian nodded.

“It is understandable for you to be suspicious, after all, it is only now that I had begun to show myself. From the shadows I had watched, observed, and remembered for all this Time, unseen and unheard. Not even Light herself could’ve seen me once I choose to return to the shadows. You should know for yourself, after all, you failed to notice my approach.”

“Then why are you here, we gods possess shadows as well, you say that you do not know of us yet your latter statement refutes this.”

The Librarian said, “You are quite sharp, and you would be right except for the fact that Heaven is Light’s domain, it is a place completely isolated from other shadows, meaning that I cannot access the memories those shadows possess. However, if I were to enter Heaven then those memories would be mine. I hope that you will not stop me in this endeavor of mine, I would rather avoid killing you as I sense that you will provide fascinating information in the future but should you stand against me, I will have no hesitation in killing you right here and now.”

Areus harrumphed, “I’d like to see you try, no matter what you are, you are no god!”

He unleashed his power, causing Iraliel to wince and back away, unable to bear the pressure. The Librarian was quite unfazed by this, instead casually raising his arm and pointing at Areus’s arm, using Absolute Division to separate it from his body. The Librarian lowered his arm and clasped his hands behind his back, leaving Areus staring at him with shock.

“What... what are you!?”

The Librarian answered once more, “I am the Librarian.”

He then proceeded to ignore Areus, instead heading over to his severed arm, taking it and beginning to analyze it. He summoned a book into creation and placed in his observations, creating a new memory to add to his Mind’s Library. Meanwhile, Iraliel tended to her wounded father who was slowly regenerating his arm. Of course, the Librarian could have made it so that he couldn’t but there was no use in that. After all, a god would provide more data with two arms than with just the one.

He planned to study these gods far more intensely but not now, doing so would earn the ire of Heaven and the Librarian was no fool. No, he had to introduce himself as a neutral party which did not want any hostilities with Heaven. He did not dare think that he would attain friendship immediately, not after wounding a god. But he could achieve neutrality with Heaven, an “I leave you alone and you leave me alone” sort of deal.

As he waited for Areus to finish healing, the Librarian inspected the perfect world of Light’s creation, the perfect world for the perfect race. But this perfect world had been invaded by something foreign and Light herself sensed it. How could she not? She was the creator of this realm, Heaven was almost a part of her, it’s not so strange to be able to sense a splinter that had pierced your skin. But there was something strangely similar about this splinter, something that reminded her of Darkness who had awoken not so long ago.

Fear was dominant in her mind but that wasn’t it, there was a flurry of other emotions that intermingled into chaos within her mind. She just didn’t know how to feel about this invader that may or may not be her Father.

Meanwhile, the Librarian had reached sight of the golden city, seeing as gods and angels enjoyed each other’s company, some conversing and playing games with one another while others were more intimate. The Librarian saw all this just form a distance, he did not dare connect with the shadows just yet, he may be able to keep the angels from detecting him but the gods would most assuredly sense his presence and march out in full force to slaughter whatever impudent creature dared to invade their privacy.

Should that happen, he would be forced to kill the gods and although he would be able to access the knowledge their shadows possessed, it would prevent him from learning what else they would do in the future. The Surveyor would rather avoid that, although if it had to, it would have no hesitation in killing a few to make the other submit. It was better to sacrifice a few for many.

But to prevent such a thing from happening, the Librarian intended to show its full might, so that no god would entertain the foolish thought to go out and fight him. After all, fear proved to be rather effective in getting others to do what you want. But he also had to be careful, fear was a double-edged sword, if he was going to use it then he must be oppressively powerful, so powerful that the enemy must think it would be useless to try anything against him.

So with this in mind, the Librarian turned towards Areus who had managed to fully regenerate his arm, saying,

“You shall take me to the City of the Gods, I wish to speak with your leaders upon matters of importance.”

Areus attempted to argue but flinched when the Librarian raised his finger once more. He just bowed his head in humiliation and gritted anger.

“I shall do so immediately.”

Areus took the lead and the Librarian followed behind, Iraliel soon joining them after snapping out of her shock. As he walked, he memorized his surroundings, taking note of the care and precision in which they had been created, all due to Light herself. She had grown up from the small child that Darkness had first met her into a powerful primordial, truly a force to be reckoned with. She was truly unique among all things as she was not of Darkness, rather an emptiness of Darkness. She could be said to be the only independent thing of Darkness and as such, was entirely and wholly independent from Darkness.

Perhaps, given some more Time, she could grow into Darkness’s equal, his one true peer in all of Existence. Hmm, Light indeed was a fascinating creature and the Librarian guessed that he would soon meet her face to face.